Hydraulic rammer



Nov. 4, 1941. H. F. VICKERS 2,261,194

HYDRAULIC HAMMER Filed June 15, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l VIII/IWII/I/ INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Nov. 4, 1941. H. F. VICKERS HYDRAULIC HAMMER Filed June 15, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

s. 1 .r b.

O1.A 1 E m n Patented Nov. 4, 1941 Harry F. Vickers, Washington, D.

to Vlckers, Incorporated, poration of Michigan mesne assignments, Detroit, Mich a cor 0., assignor, by

Application June 15, 1935, Serial No. 26,799

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a hydraulic rammer, and has to be particularlywith gun loading mechanism utilizing an electric primary pump and a hydraulic transmitting and control mechanism.

Heretofore in many types of rammers it has been customary to control the rammer by means of-compressed air operated piston and cylinder structure. This system has had-many disadvantages, one being the question of excessive weight. The weight limitations treaty puts every pound at a premium and it is most-desirable to reduce the over all weight of the actuating and control mechanism to a minimum. Another disadvantage in the compressed air system is that the tank or receiver of compressed air is exceedingly dangerous because if struck by a fragment of shell it might explode. Furthermore, expansion of air after being admitted to a cylinder cannot be directly controlled with the result that additional 'means must be provided to control the speed.- As the speed of ramming is quite high (around ten feet or more per sec ond) andvthe moving parts are quite heavy, some means must be provided to check or decelerate this weight at a safe and reasonable rate.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the rammer, piston and cylinder structure and the manner of cushioning the piston at the end of the stroke.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view, partially diagrammatic, of the preferred hydraulic circuit and valve structure for controlling the actuation of the rammer.

It is an object of the present rammer unit and system to, not only provide mechanism having a minimum weight but to so place this mechanism as to be in the rear of the gun trunnion to act as counterweight; this places the weight of the entire rammer mechanism at the most eflicacious point, and does not add to the total weight of gun. The hydraulic mechanism is such that damage from explosion is eliminated.

Afurther feature has. to do with simple and compact means for directly controlling the operatlon andspeed of the operating parts and at the same time eigect checking or decelerating oftthe moving par s at a safe and reasonable ra e.-

Other features have to do with details of the operating circuit as will be more clearly set forth in the specification and claims.

. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation, largely diagrammatic, of a gun and rammer construction embodying the present invention and illustrating particularly It will be understoodthat the present invention is particularly applicable to that type of gun in which weight and the correct balancing of the same is an important feature of the entire unit, although it will be understood that the hydraulic and automatic ramming unit of the present invention is applicable to pract c y any type of gun requiring ramming of shells in position.

In the drawings I have shown any type of standard gun generally designated 2 with a mount at 3 and a trunnion 4. As will be seen in Fig. 1, a very large part of the mechanism about to be described is positioned to the rear of the trunnion 4 whereby it acts as a counterweight, thus adding no additional weight to the gun and, in fact, replacing dead counterweights which have been used in the past.

A rearwardly extending gun housing- 5 is designed to carry a tank 6, an electric motor 1, a-pump 8, a control valve 9 and an operating member Hi, all as diagrammatically shown in Fig. l. A rammer cylinder It extends beneath the breech of the gun and is adapted to actuate a rearwardly extending piston rod I 2 and rammer block i3.

The complete circuit is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 4 where the piston I2a is shown positioned adjacent the feed end of the cylinder H; in this diagrammatic showing the cylinder is shown positioned at the rear of the breech block and thus is pushing the rammer head into position instead of pulling the same.

Each end of the cylinder I l is connected by means of conduits l4 and I5 to the control valve the manner of mounting the rammer actuating units to the rear of the gun mount.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view, also largely diagrammatic, illustrating a mechanism for insuring the return of the rammer head past-the recoil point of the gun before firing, the cylinderbeing shown behind the breech for convenience.

9, and as will be seen in Fig. 4, movement of this valve in one direction or the other will control the flow of liquid to one end or the other inthe cylinder. The valve 9 is of the standard type in which the oil circulates continuously from the pump back to the tank, when the valve is in neutral position. This valve is also of the latch type in that the valve is normally spring pressed upwardly, as viewed in'Figure 4 by a spring 9a but when moved in the opposite direction at the start of the ramming stroke, as shown in Figure 4, the lug member I6 on the valve rod will engage a spring pressed latch member I! thus retaining the valve in lowered ramming position. Release of this latch, as will be presently described, allows the .valve 9 to be moved to return position by the action of spring 9a.

The valve member 9 is normally actuated by means of a hand control lever l8 connected to the valve member 9 by means of a suitable member l9. Movement or th lever 18 forward will actuate the valve 9 to'eflect an increase in pressure to the right of the piston Mia and movement, of the rammer block l3 forwardly to contact with the projectile and move the same into the breech of the gun. As the rammer block moves toward a point closely adjacent the breech of'the gun, a lug member 20 carried by the piston rod i2 is adapted to actuate a bell crank 26 and its con-== necting rod ila which releases the latch 8'5, reverses the circuit and causes the rammer to be withdrawn to normal position. Just as the ram mer block has finished its ramming stroke and starts in return, the breech block 22 may be moved upwardly toward closed position.

In the cas of vertical ramming where it is necessary to prevent the shell from falling out, it is desirable to efiect return of the rammer block after the breech block has started to liit. In such a structure the latch M will be actuated after the breech block has started to move into position and this may be accomplished by disconnecting the bell crank 2i and extending the rod i la downwardly as shown in dotted lines and connecting same to alever member 23 adapted to be actuated by a lug 28 carried by the breech block. In this case the first inch of upward movement of the breech block will effect release, of the latch assuring that the breech block can be moved into position to prevent falling out of the shell. It will be understood here that the breech block may be actuated manually or automatically and the mechanism therefor does not form a part of the present invention.

It is important that the shell is not fired until the rammer head has returned m a point past the recoil stroke of the gun breech. This action is accomplished by positively holding out the firing pin to prevent firing until the rammer head is returned a sufiicient distance and the mechanism therefor is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein a flat spring pressed guide lever 25 is held in spring pressed position by the forward movement of the rammer block. It will be understood that ordinarily the breech block 22 is below the breech of the gun and is moved upwardly into closed position; the showing of Fig. 2 is just diagrammatic, with the lever 25 moved back from the gun breech, and the breech block moved away from firing position, to show the relative action between the parts. Here the breech block is shown provided with a firing pin 25, a trigger 21 and an actuating member 28 therefor. With the parts in the position shown, it will be seen that the member 28 will be held in inoperative position after the breech block has been moved to firing position to make it impos-' sible to actuate the firing pin until the flat guide lever 25 is moved downwardly to free the member 28. This, of course,cannot be accomplished until the header block I3 has returned to a point past the end of the guide lever 25 to allow the spring to force the same downwardly and permit actuation of the firing pin. The pump size and speed and cylinder size is proportioned to obtain the correct speed of rammer stroke, which is relatively fast. In actual arrangement of the parts, as shown in Figure 2, the rear end of the lever 25 will be positioned beyond the recoil stroke of the gun breech.

Cushioning of this relatively heavy mass is obtained by the structure best shown in Fig. 3 wherein each end of the cylinder l I is provided with spaced ports 29 separated by a check valve 30 which traps a small amount of oil in the end of the cylinderto effect positive cushioning. The end ofsthepiston istape'red to assist this cushioning action.

While it is customary to have the rammer head reversed as soon as it has completed its ram-'- ming action, it will be obvious that where desirable the latch valve actuating spring may be arranged and adjusted to move the valve 9 from forward position to neutral position after contact between the projection 20 and the lever 2 I, in which case the rammer will be returned by manual movement of the lever I8. In the neutral position of the valve 9 the pump 8 is relieved with the result that the liquid is continuously circulated by the pump against only the friction set up by the pipes. It will further be seen that when the rammer 22 is in closed position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4', that the upper end of the breech block will contact or rest just beneath an extension iaa of the lever i9 and will prevent the rammer from being moved forwardly as long as the breech block is in closed position.

What I claim is:

1. Hammer mechanism for guns of the type having a trunnion and a mounting therefor, comprising a cylinder, a piston and rammer head actuated by the cylinder, a hydraulic circuit for the cylinder including a tank, a pump and control valve, and an electric motor for the pump all carried by the gun housing and movable with the gun about the trunnion, the greater portion of the weight of said units forming the hydraulic circuit being positioned to the rear of said trunnion to act as a counterweight for the gun.

2. Rammermechanism for guns of the type having a trunnion and a mounting therefor. comprising a cylinder, a. piston and rammerhead actuated by the cylinder, a hydraulic circuit for the cylinder including a tank, a pump and control valve, and an electric motor for the pump all carried by the gun housing and movable with the gun about the trunnion, said pump and motor being positioned to the rear of said-trunnion to act as a counterweight for the gun.

3. Hydraulic rammer structure for guns, comprising a hydraulic motor unit, a rammer head carried by the movable element thereof, a pump, conduits between said pump and motor, a pilot valve between the pump and motor for controlling directional movement of said head and arranged when in neutral position to permit continuous flow of liquid to and from the pump, means for actuating the valve to cause the rainmer to move towards the gun breech and means actuated by the closing movement of the breech block for moving said valve away from forward rammer actuating position. p

.4. Hydraulic rammer structure for guns, comprising a piston and cylinder unit,-; a rammer block carried by the movable element-thereof, a pump, conduits between said pump and cylinder, a pilot valve between the pump and cylinder and arranged when in neutral position to permit continuous flow of liquid to and from the pump, means for actuating the valve to cause the rammer to move toward the gun breech, means actuated by the closing movement of the breech block for moving said valve away from forward position, and cushioning means forming a part of carried by the movable element-thereof, .a pump.

conduits between said pump and cylinder, a pilot valve between the pump and cylinder for controling the directional movement of said rammer block and arranged when in neutral position to permit continuous flow of liquid to and from the pump, and means rendered .operative by movement of the breech block toward closed position to prevent movement of the valve and forward movement of said rammer block as long as the breech is closed.

6. Hydraulic rammer structure for guns. comprising a hydraulic motor unit, a rammer block carried by the movable element thereof, a pump, conduits between said pump and motor, a pilot valve between the pump and motor for controlling directional movement of said rammer block and arranged when in neutral position to permit continuous flow of liquid to and from the pump, means for actuating the valve to cause the rammer to move towards the gun breech and means actuated by the closing movement of the breech block for moving said valve from forward rammer actuating position into reverse position to move the rammer block from the breech only after the breech block has moved toward closing position, whereby to keep the ammunition from falling from the breech before firing.

7. Hydraulic rammer structure for guns, comprising a piston and cylinder unit, a rammer block carried by the movable element thereof, a pump, conduits between said pump and cylinder, a pilot valve between the pump and cylinder and arranged when in neutral position to permit continuous flow of liquid to and from the pump, means for actuating the valve to cause the rammer to move toward the gun breech, means actuated by the closing movement of the breech block for moving said valve from forward position to reversing position, and cushioning means forming a part of each end of said cylinder for cushioning the rammer block at the end of its stroke.

8. Hydraulic rammer structure for guns, comprising a piston and cylinder unit, a rammer block carried by the movable element thereof, a pump, conduits between said pump and cylinder, a pilot valve between the pump and cylinder for controlling directional movement of said rammer block and arranged when in neutral position to permit continuous flow of liquid to and from the pump, means for actuating the valve to cause the rammer to move towards the gun breech and means actuated by the closing movement of the breech block for moving said valve from forward rammer actuating position into reverse position to move the rammer block from the breech only after the breech block has moved toward closing position, whereby to keep the ammunition from falling from the breech before firing, and means rendered operative by movement of the breech block toward closed position to prevent movementof the valve and forward movement of said rammer block as long as the breech is closed.

HARRY F. VICKERS. 

